MongabayA recent study published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences finds that vines called lianas reduce the carbon storage capacity of tropical forests by crowding out and sometimes even killing trees. With tropical forests acting as one of the world's greatest defenses against global warming, the study's authors say that understanding the impact of lianas on carbon sequestration is important to figuring out just how much carbon forests will be able to store in the coming years.READ MORE

Woodworking NetworkThe American Wood Council (AWC) has released a revised Technical Report 12 (TR 12): General Dowel Equations for Calculating Lateral Connection Values. New provisions provide increased options for connecting wood members and, as a result, information on using stainless steel and aluminum fasteners and connectors has been included.READ MORE

Natural Resources Defense CouncilIt's not easy to turn around a big ship. When policymakers get it wrong, it can be a long hard slog to set things right. We're in the midst of just such a course correction on biomass energy policies, and there's some good news to report this week.

Mounting demand for wood in Europe — which lacks adequate biomass sourcing standards and allows wood-burning to be counted as "carbon free" under EU climate policies — has led to an explosive growth in pellet mills across the Southern U.S. that are exporting wood pellets to supply the European electricity market. But plans for one such mill in Pike County, Mississippi, appear to be off, a sign that uncertainty for the future of the pellet industry is growing.READ MORE

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Climate CentralU.K. efforts to meet climate targets by subsidizing wood burning at power plants instead of relying on lower-carbon energy sources are being probed by European officials for their impacts on American manufacturers and on the environment. The U.K. is planning to use billions of dollars in climate fees imposed on electricity customers to help two large coal power plants switch to wood fuel, millions of tons of which is already being produced every year using trees from southern U.S. states. It's also supporting construction of a third power plant that will use similar fuel.
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WCMH-TVThe U.S. Bureau of Land Management is considering opening 31,900 acres under Wayne National Forest for gas and oil drilling, including portions of Athens, Washington and Galia counties in Ohio. Fracking, or hydraulic fracturing, is a process that involves horizontal drilling to extract shale energy. But some residents and environmental groups in Athens County and southeastern Ohio expressed concern for air and water quality, if fracking is allowed in the Wayne, while offering only limited business opportunities.READ MORE

The New York TimesIn the deep stillness of a forest in winter, the sound of footsteps on a carpet of leaves died away. Peter Wohlleben had found what he was looking for: a pair of towering beeches. "These trees are friends," he said, craning his neck to look at the leafless crowns, black against a gray sky. "You see how the thick branches point away from each other? That's so they don't block their buddy's light."

Wohlleben has spent time focusing on the forest variety, making the case for a popular reimagination of trees, which, he says, contemporary society tends to look at as "organic robots" designed to produce oxygen and wood.READ MORE

The Associated Press via WSB-TVDavid Govus and Jess Riddle bounded off the mountain ridge and into the forest below filled with tulip poplars, white oaks, Ohio buckeyes and black cherry trees and carpeted with a spongy mix of leaves, ferns and bark. The U.S. Forest Service, as part of the largest timbering operation in this Southern Appalachian region in at least a decade, wants to log a 40-acre stand to help "rejuvenate" the woods. Govus and Riddle, opponents of the plan, descended deeper into the Chattahoochee National Forest. The Forest Service's stated goal is to restore, in ever-larger chunks, the overall health of the North Georgia forest — a playground for metro Atlanta outdoor enthusiasts.READ MORE

Woodworking NetworkWoodworking expert Scott Wunder writes: "For Christmas, I decided my daughter needed a bunch of dominos (not to play the game dominos, but to stand up and knock over). I always liked playing with dominos, but was always disappointed when I ran out, so I then decided it should be a big bunch of dominos. After doing a little online research, I quickly concluded that a purchase of a big bunch of dominos, even the cheap ones, was going to add up, and since I have a never-ending supply of domino stock in my shop, I set out to make them. First things first, I needed to figure out the dimensions, and this ended up being the most difficult part of the entire job. I tried searching online, assuming there would be a standard size and I would just copy that, but I didn't find anything standard. The sizes seemed to be all over the place."READ MORE

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